MotoGP: The Big Sandbox (gritty spoilers!)

He's been slow in all off-season testing. 10th is not a surprise.

Fwiw I don't think he's ever recovered from the shoulder and broken leg. Happens to all athletes eventually.

Rossi fans are finding it hard to accept, in the same way that Montana fans felt, even when he played for Kansas City.

Huh, they race motorcycles in Montana AND Kansas Cite, why didn't anyone tell me

+1

Luthi would be 17th on the Motogp grid in front of 4 1000s.

Some help ?

ART, what motor and what country is the bike made ?
Suter, " "BMW , Edwards
FTR " "
BQR-FTR " "
IODA " "Aprilla , tube frame wonder, Petrucci

With pic's , specs and riders if you can.

Harsh, but I pretty much agree with all of that. Meanwhile Stoner just kinda shows up after laying low in the off season and goes back to business as usual...he's just not as fun to like, but man, the numbers just never lie.

1. Stoner (after he passes Pedro who gets a better start).
2. Ben (working his way up from 8th while everyone's tires were fading)
3. Lorenzo (was owning Ben until his tires went away)
4. Pedro (had a 2 sec lead but faded the entire race)
5. Hayden (catches Pedro in the last 2 laps because he CAN ride on crap tires)
6. RdP (followed shortly by...)
7. Rossi (terrible start, struggling with setup the entire time but can still spank the CRT's)
10. Dovi (was as high as 5th but then couldn't ride the tires)
14. Edwards (will be quoted "We ran over a cobra and I'm jus' used to seeing rattlesnakes")

*basically the weekend theme is getting a good start and being able to ride on fading tires

If it rains :huh?

Rossi (terrible start, struggling with setup the entire time but can still spank the CRT's)

It's just practice.

I think of Nickys place in practice as being what Rossi is capable of in the race. Typically Nikcy can't match his practice position in the race, but Rossi can even though his practice time was 5 positions worse. Weird but true.

Rossi uses hard tire while Nicky goes with a soft

ART - Aprilia Racing Team. Some say that the Aprilia ART is a factory bike in sheep's clothing.
Suter - Swiss frame builder
FTR - British frame builder
IODA - Italian frame builder.

Don't have much time for pics and specs but you can find a lot of info on the Motogp threads in here and on Google.

Top speeds:
- Ducati and Honda on top, Yamaha about 10kph behind.
- Best CRTs lose about 10kph to Yamahas.

Gonna be a hard day for CRT guys looking for a pass if they ever get a chance. Fastest CRT (RdP) was a second slower than slowest prototype. Really hoping that ART can find some to close the gap. Also look for Edwards vs. RdP.


Moto2 has really picked up the pace during last 6 months

Additionally as the track becomes less slippery Hayden's relative pace will drop off. He's the ace on slippery tracks.

Yep, it's a dirty track and just 45 min for the session, so Rossi puts on a hard tyre and just rides around on that same tyre for the session, as he says "trying to do a lot of laps in order to understand it (the tyre)."

Doesn't mean he won't be 10th still in qualifying, but does help explain why he was 10th Thursday night.

His conclusion:

"The new tyre is much better for warming up, so good for safety, but it started to slide a lot after some laps and made some of the understeer worse." Report here at the motogp site.

Sounds like we may get a bit more interest developing late in races if tyre management becomes a bigger factor, like it used to be.

I am not convinced. (I hope I'm wrong, though)

FP2

HB went 210+mph down the straight.

• 1STONER C.Repsol Honda Team1:55.960
• 2LORENZO J.Yamaha Factory Racing+0.214
• 3DOVIZIOSO A.Monster Yamaha Tech 3+0.688
• 4SPIES B.Yamaha Factory Racing+0.711
• 5BARBERA H.Pramac Racing Team+0.718
• 6PEDROSA D.Repsol Honda Team+0.737
• 7HAYDEN N.Ducati Team+0.822
• 8CRUTCHLOW C.Monster Yamaha Tech 3+0.854
• 9BRADL S.LCR Honda MotoGP+1.237
• 10ROSSI V.Ducati Team+1.314
• 11ABRAHAM K.Cardion AB Motoracing+1.598
• 12BAUTISTA A.San Carlo Honda Gresini+1.708
• 13DE PUNIET R.Power Electronics Aspar+2.98

Ok I'll do it for you since you're very humble

Elias is 23rd.

Not there yet, but things are trending my way.